Born in Lodi, California to Mexican migrant farmworkers and raised in nearby Galt, Dr. Lorena V. Márquez has never forgotten her roots. In fact, as the fourth of seven children who grew up in poverty with hardworking parents who made countless sacrifices, she credits her humble upbringing for the ganas (drive) to pursue her academic and activist goals. As a native Spanish-speaking daughter of immigrants and first-generation college student, she knows firsthand of the challenges many Chicanx and Latinx students face inside and outside of the classroom. In fact, as the first and only member of her family to go to college, she is keenly aware of educational inequities and is committed to making college truly accessible to all—regardless of citizenship or socio-economic background.

Dr. Márquez serves as a board member of the Sacramento Movimiento Chicano Oral History Project, a collective of Sacramento Chicana/o Movement organizers/participants whose mission is to record the oral histories of Sacramento Chicana/o Movement activists and former Mexican American Education Project participants. During the spring 2014 and 2015 quarters, her UC Davis Qualitative Methods Research undergraduate students conducted interviews of Sacramento Chicana/o Movement activists and participants as part of their course requirements. To date, there are 95 video recorded oral histories. This collection will be housed at theCalifornia State University, Sacramento Archives. The Sacramento Movimiento Chicano Oral History Project is currently working on a documentary of Chicana/o Movement participants/activists in Sacramento.

Dr. Márquez specializes in Chicana/o history through the late 20th and early 21st centuries. She is currently working on a manuscript on the Chicana/o Movement in Sacramento that examines and analyzes political activism, identity, gender, and community during the civil rights era of the 1960s and 1970s.Her experiences in both the archives and in the Sacramento Chicano Movement Oral History Project serve as the basis for her teaching and research. Her work ultimately contributes to the expanding knowledge of the ethnic Mexican population in seldom-studied U.S. sites, highlighting an often contradictory and multi-dimensional Chicana/o experience.

-Certificate of Recognition and Appreciation “for your instrumental assistance in the successful completion of the goals in the first phase of the oral history interview process,” Sacramento Movimiento Chicano and Mexican American Education Project Oral History Initiative, June 7, 2014.
- Nomination for the 11th Annual ASUCD Excellence in Education Award, 2013. (This award honors instructors in their outstanding undergraduate teaching, and it is completely funded, nominated, and selected by UC Davis students.)
- Service to the Community Award, College Assistant Migrant Program, California State University, Sacramento, 2011.
-Student Presenter Fellowship, National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies, 2008.